a low, slow kinda freak-out...

really, more like a mumble, under my breath..."shit...now i'm fucked...what the...? ok...figure this out..."
and so it was after i had gotten into a taxi and given him the business card of the bed and breakfast i'm staying at and asked him how much it would cost to take me there...except there's no real address on the card - or at least one he understood...so, outta the cab i go and back onto the street. new plan. i needed a new plan to get home - thus the mumbling. sure, i had the phone number of jim and antonio's but i wasn't gonna phone them to rescue me. so i did the next thing i thought i knew how to do - get a 'colectivo' cab at the macdonalds. now, for those of you not familiar with this type of cab, it's basically a cab that's more like a bus. it's a small car that people pile into, as many as they can get in, and away it goes. the thing is, you're all going to the same area but not the same place. make sense? it's kind of a taxi that had a specific route and you get out when you're kinda close to where you need to go. i kinda had an idea of where i wanted to go...so...what you look for is a 'colectivo' with the name of the area you need to go to and you get in. there were three of us when i got in the front seat of the car i needed. by the end of the ride there were five of us and the driver in what was a car about the size of a small toyota. and when the dude we picked up joined me in the front seat and the driver had to still use the stick shift...that was some exciting driving action. all for ten pesos - about a buck. but now i'm back and it's all good.
tonight antonio gave me a ride downtown left me near the 'zocalo', or main plaza of oaxaca. (zocala proper is the main square in mexico city but they call the main square here this too...) i was looking for shoes - that i did not find - and also some dinner. it's a cool area. the day of the dead festival has just ended and there are still many signs that it was going on including these large heads/skulls that were all painted by different artists that lined the street and bands marching through the streets playing. i walked around for a while and then decided i needed a snack.
i went into a taco joint that was more a restaurant than a taqueria so when i wanted to get my tacos and gringa to go they were a little confused. the manager finally figured out what i wanted and all was good - so good....because they usually bring six different things - salsa, limes, onions, etc - to the table, they put a bunch in my bag as well. probably enough for ten tacos and i only had four. i sat out in the square and made my own little dinner. nice.
then i went and found a cab that had no idea where i wanted to go.
big smile, great night.

g. xo

(**for some reason my spell check is checking in spanish not english so...if there are things spelled incorrectly...sue me...)

tonight's dinner...well, one part of it...and the bags of salsa and such that came with it.


the large paper mache heads that lined the streets near the zocalo.